Process for washing wool



June 18, 1929. E. c. DUHAMEL PROCESS FOR WASHING WQOL Filed May 8, 1925TWN.

suinty lwools when they have been treated, duringthelr washlngpvith hotsu1nt,and on the other hand 1t 1s 1mportant to cause the v suintto exertits full detersivo action. That Vis why the invention provides, as toraw wool e ers. This operation of soaking followedby i mangling, may becarried out a second time before the wool enters a vat.

"2. The wool is passed through two vats containing suint of about 4 B.,the suint in the second vat being more completely cleaned (in `order toincrease its detersive` power) than that in the first vat.

3. When the purifying of the Wool can be carried out farenough-forinstance, by utilizing filtration-the wool passesl throughthree vats containing suint of about 4 B.

The third vatican be supplied with suint from the first vat. butperfectly purified; the dirtiest suint from the third vat flowing intothe second vat, and the dirtiest suint from `the latter vat flowing intothe first vat. The liquid in the third vat can also be purified forreturn thereto` while the purified liquid from the'first vat feeds thesecond vat, and the dirtiest liquid from the second vat flows into thefirst one. Obviously, more than three suints vats can be used.Thereafter, the wool may or may not be treated in a soapy bath, andfinally, in either case it is simply rinsed in water as usual.

In the case where the wool is subjected several times to the Washingaction of suint liquor, the suint liquor of a bath containing relativelyclean wool is given a greater washing power than that ofthe liquor of abath containing relatively dirty wool. For instance the cleaner suintliquor coming from Va bath containing relatively clean wool is subjectedto at least one more purifying operation than the dii-tier liquor. Thepurified suint liquor can be delivered to a cleaner washing bath thanthe one rfrom which it was taken.

The suint liquor can be circulated in counter-current with the woolwhile treating the raw wool with cold Water to cause it to give up itssuint and supplying the bath containing the cleanest wool with the suintobtained kfrom the said cold water treatment. Moreover, the impurities.both separable and nonseparable by simple natural decantation` areremoved from contact with the suint, andthe portions of the suint bathcontaining the impurities which have settled down by gravity areautomatically removed during the washing operation, then subjected to a.purifying treatment, and then reused for wash7 ing, these steps beingcarried out in a s ubstantially continuous manner. bath can operaterindefinitely and without stoppage for clcaning,'if supplied withregulated amounts of water. l

The heavier impuritiesseparated fromthe suint liquor by centrifligingare extracted The suint from the centrifuge while the latter is runningat full speed. Preferably, the bath liquid is treated to extract ,theheavier muds, and then is centrifuged to extract the colloidal-muds, thegrease being removed eitherv during the same operation or by a differentoperation.

From the point of view of the length of the Wool fibers, it is importantto reduce the action of the soap during the washing by increasing theaction of the suint. Indeed,

the soap baths have a tendency to felt the wool and form it intobuttons, whereas the sui-nt baths open out the Wool by separating thefibers farther from one another. Hence, there is less Wool broken duringcarding and, therefore, less waste occurs in the combing operation, andthe comb contains fewer short fibers and has a more regular length.

In the accompanying drawings Figures 1 and 1A conjointly form a generaldiagrammatic plan view of an apparatus embodying the invention` `and forcarrying outI the same. It is to be assumed that in the followingdescription, the washing of wool is involved; but such description can,of course, apply, with slight modifications, to the washing of materialsother than wool.V The description, moreover, involves the employment ofsuint as the washing agent, followed by a finishing treatment with soap.1

Referring-,more particularly tothe drawing, it Will be seen that thestructure illustrated diagrammatically therein comprises a battery orcolumn of successive vats (five, in this instance) designated 1, 2, 3, 4and 5. Wool is suitably fed to the first vat 1 which contains, forinstance, 4o B. suint. This Baume degree is usually sufficientl toinsure a good detersivo action, `but it can be increased to about 10o B.when diiiicultlycleaned wools are to be treated, such as those whichhave been dried after anL imperfect washing. e

In the plants hitherto in use, the-washing vat had to be of great volumein order to reduce the number of outlets;v but according to my inventionthe vatv 1 is, like the other vats of the set or battery, a vat ofreduced volume, owing to the fact that below each vat there is provideda Vpyramidal chamber or hopper 1 1 having sharply inclined walls. Thesehoppers permit the mud separated from the wool or other material undertreatbath liquid in order to render the purifying treatment moreeffective.

'.lhe wool is caused to travel through the bath by suitable devices andis ultimately delivered to a mangle 1G; the liquid expressed by themangle being delivered either into a pipe 19 leading to a collector 20that feeds a mud remover 21, or, when the inlet end of said pipe isclosed by a slide valve, into the vat 1 by Way of an overflow pipe 22.The liquid squeezed out by the mangle joins the flushing liquids in thedouble-slope collector 20 which is located beneath the washing vat andfeeds by gravity into the mud remover 2l, the latter being necessarilyarranged at a slightly lower level than the collector. The collector 20discharges directly into a pipe 26` which, in turn, discharges into apipe 20 of sufficiently large diameter to contain a steam coil or othersuitable device for heating the liquid in order to decrease itsviscosity; such heating action also serving to keep the liquids hotenough to maintain the standard working temperature in the washing vatinto which they are returned. The pipe 20 is connected to themud'relnover 21, and the presence of its coil or other contact-heatingdevice has, of course, the advantage that the Baume degree ofthe 4suintis not lowered, as would be the case if the suint were heated by havingsteam injected into it.

The muds deposit on the walls of the solid basket of the mud remover 21which turns lat high speed, and this necessitates their removal. Theliquid from which the mud has been removed can be transported andhandledv v tical axis and a small diameter. The grease flows continuallythrough a suitable nozzle out of the degreasing apparatus, and thedegreased liquid (which is about 4 B. suint) returns to the vat 1. Inthe case of a protracted stoppage of the operation, a greasy froth mayform on top of the vat which should preferably be removed before theoperation starts again; and for this purpose, in order to facilitatescraping the'vat, one of its longitudinal sides is made slightly lowerthan the other one. By adding suint to the first vat,the greasy frothcan be caused to rise and flow off over the top of the shorter. wallinto the discharge gutters that are provided beneath the pyramidalhoppers 11 on the vat.

The set consisting of the. mud remover and the degreasing apparatus mayadvantageously be replaced by al1 apparatus that will act both as a mudremover and as a dcgreascr, with continuous removal of muds and greases.Mud removal may be effected in two operations: the first one consistingin removing the larger bits of earth, for example by means of acentrifuge of large diameter, and the second one" consisting in removingthe colloidal earths by means of a small-diameter centrifuge eitherbefore or after degreasing. The small-diameter centrifuge is analogousto the degreasing apparatus in that it also has a high rotary speed; itswalls being of conical form to assemble the calloidal muds at the inletends of 'the discharge pipes which, being of small section, would becomeobstructed in receiving the liquid just as it comes from the first vatof the battery. The mud can be carried away by a further supply of waterwhich may, at the saine time, be used to recover the suint contained inthe muds removed. The liquid is preferably heated-for instance, by meansof the device 20 previously described-after it has left the vat andbefore it leaves the last purifying device. This heating assistspurification so that if the heat necessary to the bath were applied inthe bath, the temperature of the liquid at the time of purificationwould be lower, and purification would then be less thorough. Duringcent-rifuging, it is advisable to prevent the liquid from cooling; andsince such cooling chiefiy takes place when the liquid is atomized byair, a device of some sort which will prevent entrance of air should beused.

The wool is delivered by the mangle 16 of the first vat 1 to the secondvat 2 which contains suint of about 1 B.' This second vat is of the samekind as the first one but of reduced length, having only two hoppersinstead of four through which the' wool is moved. The mud-removingcentrifuge 21 associated with this second vat, which latter, however,does not generally require a degreasing apparatus, may serve for severalvats of the same order in various batteries. There is no occasion tofear that coarse or colored wool will find its way to a bath fortreating fine or white wool because, during centrifuging, every stapleof Wool is separated from the liquid and stuck against the wall. Byspacing the flushing operations at sufiicient intervals, the liquid fromthe flushings of thesaidsecond vat 2 can also be sont, by way of a pipe28, into the collector 20 that feeds the mud remover 2l. Y

The third vat 3 is identical with the second one, and contains cleanwater to free the wool completely from suint. The flushing liquid passesto the discharge conduit, drinn or gutter or, if preferred, it may passeither to centrifuge 2l or to centrifuge 2l; the l1qu1d expressed by themangle returning to the vat.

In thisthird v at, however, the flushing operations do not take placeautomatically but are effected` by hand whenever required. The threevats 1, 2 and 3 constitute a unit in the battery, as regardscirculation' of their liquids; the second and third yvats '2 and 3having'for their function to free the wool -from suint while it is beingwashed. Re-

gardless of the shape of these two desuinting vats, they feature oftaking from them the ,dirtiest liquid anddelivering it to a precedingvat, either directly or through a centrifuge or a purifying apparatus,remains always within the scope of this invention.

A The third .vat 3 receives clean water or, in order to save heat andwater, it may receive water from the last vat which, as will behereinafter seen, contains no soap.` This vat may be placed a littlelhigher than the second vat and may be provided with an overflow pipe 27v to feed the secondvat 2; though such feeding may also be effected bydelivering the iiushings from the third vat to the mud-removingcentrifuge 21. In order to rid the wool of Vevery trace of suint smell,it may be advisable to introduce into the said vat more liquid than listaken into the preceding vats, the excess liquid vpassing into thedischarge conduit.V The second vat 2 may likewise be positioned a littlehigher than the first vat and be fitted with an overflow pipe 28 leadingto theviirst vat, orsuch feeding may be effected by delivering theflushings from the second vat to the mud remover 21.

The wool issuing from the third vat 3 is delivered to the fourth vat 4which is identical with the vat 1, excepting that it has no automaticflushing, this fourth vat being lilled with soapy water or soap suds. Abelt elevator 29, located in a receptacle at one side of vat4, feedsadegreasing apparatus 30 that gushes its liquid into the fourth vat,which latter vat is always quite clean, for only very little dirtdeposits in the bottom ofthe hoppers.V Flushing should, therefore, bee'ected yby hand when required, for the apparatusv is no longer stoppedfor vat-cleaning except ywhen part of the batch of wool is beingchanged. The waters from vat 4 maybe sent untreated to the dischargeconduit, or

through a special duct to be'treated both for purifying them and forrecovering the fatty acids of the soap mixed with some wool grease. f

The 'wool then enters the last v at 5 which is identical with vat 4 butcontains .clean water only. This fifth or last vat, which .has

no degreasing apparatus, is positioned alittle higher (about 10centimeters) than the fourth jvat sofas to feed the same when flushingoccurs, and it is ke t clean by clean water suitably supplied to 1t andby flushing it by hand at the proper times. c

In the event of suicient suint being available to disregard asnegligible the recovery ing of the wool between its treatments withsuint and with soap. The Washing action of vat 2 is particularlyeffective; every impurity in the wool being enveloped in a strongsolution of suintbccomes detached from the wool and drops intov theclean water in the vat, and the liquid which saturates the wool afterhaving passed through the mangle of vat 2 is clean since the said vatreceives an abundance of clean water. c

If no consideration has .to be paid to river pollution, and if woolswhich, like Africans, are less greasy but contain much sand or dirt arebeing treated, only a mud reu'iover without a degreasing apparatus needbe employed for centrifuging. As a matter of fact, the Baume degree ofthe suint in the irstvat becomes higher, and suint' must, therefore, beremoved. which thus carries oif grease. 0n the other hand, the mudremoved in the mud remover also carries away grease, so that the suintin the first vat keeps in a. not too greasy state. Only a little greasereymains on. the wool when it leaves the mangle of the first vat; andthis grease, which is in. emulsion 1n the suint and still keeps the samemoist despite mangling,y easily separates' Off in vat 2 and isdischarged into the gutter torspecial drive permits wool to be washedwith suint, in the vats hitherto used, by purifying, if need he, theliquidsfrom the mangle during the working of the column, while the mudsof the bath accumulate under the false bottoms; then, after the factoryhas been vshut down, the whole contents of the vat,

including what is found in the false bottoms, is subjected toeentrifuging. IVhen the fac'- tory works 24 hours a day, the electricdrive of the purifying apparatus permits the first vat in eachsuccessive column or battery to containing a solution of sodiumcarbonate,

and then the waters squeezed out by the mangle and the lushmg` watersfrom this Vat are purified by centrifuging to permit their reuse. Thevat may or may not be preceded b v a sprinkling funnel or conduit 1nwhich, however, the sodium carbonate solution will be used. and the saidfunnel may or may not be followed by a mangle. The wool coming from thesodium carbonate Washing bath is delivered to one of thehereinbefore-described washing systems in which suint is used; loweringof the B. degree of the suint in the 4 vat being prevented by bringingther-cinto additional quantities of, say, about 10 B. suint obtainedfrom other wools.

Suint washes the better the more concentrated it is-a concentration ofabout 4 B. is generally sufficient-but the wrong methods adopted in thepast involved bringing back into the first or inlet vats either duringoperation or during draining (except for the losses involved by mudremoval) the whole of the liquids from the following vats, so that aconcentration suitable for a good washing with suint could never beeffected hitherto merely with the suint from the wools subjected to thesaid washing, even when attempts were made to re-introduce, aftercentrifuging in the inlet vats, part of the liquid from their outiioW.

This invention, therefore, covers the production and maintenance of thedesired concentration of the suint in the washing machines by additionsof suint from the raw wools, combined with purification of the bathsandr re-use thereof, as Well as combined with the feature that the vatcontaining 4 B. suint receives only a number of liters of liquid aboutequal to the number of kilograms of raw wool feeding the column, whetherthe said purification is or is not effected by centrifugiug. or byformation of greasy froth which is subsequently eliminated, or byelectricity, or by filtering, or by any other process or method; thesame also holding good in the case of alkaline carbonatesv having beenadded to the bath.

The invention likewise covers the feature of transporting from thecolumn liquids containing the suint carried oif by the wool on issuingfrom the vat or vats containing suint for washing, before or aftermangling, in order to clean the said suint with a View to re-using itfor washing, or for concentrating it with or without puriiication, oreven for the purpose of throwing it away in any form whatever.

' Iclaim:

1. In a method of washing uncarded wool, the steps of sprinkling thewool, at the beginning of its treatment, with hot suint while causing itto advance slowly; uniformly subjecting the wool, after the sprinklingtreatment, to a squeezing action; and then delivering the squeezed woolto a washing bath of suint havinga concentration at least as highv as 3B.

2. In a method of washing, uncarded wool, in which the Wool is subjectedat least once to the washing action of an aqueous bath of concentratedsuint, the steps of subjecting the wool to the action of a single bathof soap, and then to a rinsing bath to reduce the adsorption of soap bythe wool.

3. In a method of washing uncarded Wool, the steps of subjecting thewool at least once to the washing action of an aqueous :bath ofconcentrated suint, admitting to the suint bath about one liter ofaqueous liquid per kilogram of dry Wool to be washed, and maintainingsaid bath in a sufficiently clean state for washing by preventing itsexcessive enrichment in impurities.

4. In a method of washing uncarded wool, in which the wool is subjectedat least once to the washing action of a bath of suint liquor, the stepof supplying such bath with suint liquor which has undergone aconcentrating treatment.

5. In a met-hod of washing uncarded Wool, in which the Washing liquidsare purified for reuse, and in which the wool is subjected several timesto the washing action of suint liquor, the step of subjecting the suintliquor from a bath containing relatively clean Wool to at least onepurifying operation more than the suint liquor from a bath containingrelatively dirty wool.

6. In a method of Washing uncarded wool, in which the wool is subjectedseveral times to the Washing action of suint liquor, the steps ofcirculating suint liquor having a concentration at least as high as 3 B.in counter-current- Within the wool, treating the raw Wool with col'dwater to cause it to give up its suint, and supplying the bathcontaining the cleanest wool with the suint obtained from said coldWater treatment.

7. In a m'ethod of washing uncarded Wool, in which the wool is subjectedat least once to the washing action of a bath of suint liquor, the stepsof treating the bath liquid to extract the heavier muds, and. thencentrifuging it to extract the colloidal muds.

8. In a method of washing uncarded wool,

said liquid to a grease-extracting treatment.

9. In a method of washing uncarded wool,

in which the wool is subjected at least oncey to the washing action of abath of suint liquor which, during the washing operation, is puried forreuse, the step of augmenting the efcacy of the purifying operation byheating the suint liquor at a point in its travel outside of the bathand before the completion of the purifying operation so as to decreaseits viscosity and to maintain the bath at the required temperature.

10. In a method of washing unearded Wool, in which the wool is subjectedat least once to the washing action of a bath of suint liquor,v

the steps of withdrawing the suint liquor from the washing bath,purifying it, and then delivering the purified suint liquor to a cleanerwashing rbath than the one wherefrom it was taken. i

11. In a method of washing uncarded wool, in which the wool is subjectedat least once to a washing action of a bath of suint liquor, the stepsof removing from contact with the suint liquor the impurities bothseparable and non-separable by simple natural decantation, automaticallyremoving during the course of the washing operation the portions of thesuint liquor bath containing the impurities which have settled down bygravity, subjecting said portions to a purifying treatment, and re-usingthe purified suint liquor for washing; said steps being carried out in asubstantially continuous manner. A

12. In a method of washing uncarded wool, in which the wool is subjectedat least once to the washing action of a bath of suint liquor,

the steps o f collectin the suint in such bath,y

automatically removing during the course of the washing-operation theportions of the suint liquor bath containing the impurities which havesettled down by gravity, subject-ing said portions to a purifyingtreatment, and re-using the puriied suint liquor for washing; wherebysaid bath can operate indefinitely and without stoppage for cleaning, ifsupplied with regulated amounts of water.

13. In a process of washing uncarded wool, in which the Wool issubjected at least once to the washing action of a bath of suint liquor,the steps of centrifuging the bath liquid at vleast once, and extractingat regulated speed ELISE CHARLES DUHAMEL.

